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The Measure Of A Man (episode)
When Starfleet reassigns Data to the command of Commander Bruce Maddox, a cybernetics expert, he learns that Maddox intends to disassemble Data in order to learn how to replicate his android form. Unwilling to participate, Data resigns from Starfleet, leading Maddox to claim that Data is the property of Starfleet and cannot refuse. Summary Upon arriving at the newly-built Starbase 173 aboard the Enterprise, Lt. Commander Data is approached by Commander Bruce Maddox, a Federation cyberneticist whom Data has met before. He was the only member of a board to oppose Data's admission to Starfleet. Commander Maddox explains that he wants Data to help him understand better how Dr. Noonien Soong was able to overcome certain problems when designing Data's positronic brain. Data is intrigued until he discovers that it is Maddox's intention to download Data's memories into another computer, deactivate him, and then disassemble him. Data points out that Maddox doesn't have the necessary knowledge to carry out this procedure safely, and so he refuses to undergo it. But Commander Maddox was prepared for this, and he produces orders from Starfleet Command transferring Data under his command. He then orders Data to submit to the procedure. Again, Data refuses and resigns his commission to further impede Maddox's plans. Maddox, however, contends that Data cannot resign from Starfleet as he is property, not a sentient being with rights. Captain Picard, already livid about the whole ordeal, challenges Maddox's assessment before the local Judge Advocate General, Captain Phillipa Louvois, who had previously prosecuted Picard in the court-martial against him following the destruction of his last ship, the . She finds for Commander Maddox, based on statutory decisions already issued decades earlier. Picard demands a formal hearing to decide the matter. Because she is short-staffed, Captain Louvois recruits Captain Picard to defend Data and a reluctant Commander Riker to represent Commander Maddox. Commander Riker's case appeared devastating, even to Captain Picard, until Guinan pointed out that if Maddox were to be successful in recreating Data, then a race would be born. A race of laborers, of slaves. As Captain Picard makes this point in court, he grinds away at Commander Maddox's views about Data. In doing so, Picard maneuvers Maddox into conceding that Data fulfills most of his own criteria, intelligence and self-awareness, for a being to be considered sentient, while making the scientist agree that the remaining criterion, consciousness, is too nebulous a concept to precisely say whether the android possesses it or not. Having made his argument for Data being sentient, Picard summarizes his final contention that then to create a sentient race that is considered property is to sanction slavery, a profound violation of the basic principles and ideals of the United Federation of Planets. In the end, Captain Louvois rules in favor of Data: :"It sits there looking at me, and I don't know what it is. This case has dealt with metaphysics, with questions best left to saints and philosophers. I am neither competent nor qualified to answer those. I've got to make a ruling, to try to speak to the future. Is Data a machine? Yes. Is he the property of Starfleet? No. We have all been dancing around the basic issue. Does Data have a soul? I don't know that he has. I don't know that I have! But I have got to give him the freedom to explore that question himself. It is the ruling of this court that Lieutenant Commander Data has the freedom to choose." ::- Captain Phillipa Louvois After the victory, Riker hides away in shame, but Data comes to express his gratitude that he made that sacrifice that saved him. Log Entries * [[Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2365#Port call at Starbase 173|Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2365]] Memorable Quotes "If we weren't around all these people, do you know what I would like to do?" "Bust a chair across my teeth..." "After that." "Oh, ain't love wonderful?" : - Picard and Phillipa "It brings a sense of order and stability to my universe to know that you're still a pompous ass... and a damn sexy man." : - Phillipa, to Picard "I am the culmination of one man's dream. This is not ego or vanity, but when Doctor Soong created me, he added to the substance of the universe. If by your experiments I am destroyed, something unique, something wonderful will be lost. I cannot permit that, I must protect his dream." : - Data, to Bruce Maddox "Consider that in the history of many worlds there have always been disposable creatures. They do the dirty work. They do the work that no one else wants to do, because it's too difficult or too hazardous. And an army of Datas, all disposable? You don't have to think about their welfare; you don't think about how they feel. Whole generations of disposable people." "You're talking about slavery." "I think that's a little harsh." "I don't think that's a little harsh, I think that's the truth. But that's a truth that we have obscured behind a... comfortable, easy euphemism. 'Property.' But that's not the issue at all, is it?" : - Guinan and Picard "We were...intimate." : - Data, when asked about his connection to Tasha Yar. "You want me to try and prove that Data's a mere machine. I can't. I don't believe it. I know he's more than that. I'm neither qualified nor willing to do this. You're going to have to find someone else." "Then I'll rule summarily based upon my findings. Data is a toaster. Have him report immediately to Commander Maddox for experimental refit." : - Riker and Phillipa Louvois "Your Honor, a court room is a crucible. In it we burn away irrelevancies until we are left with a pure product: the truth, for all time." : - Picard, in his summation "... Starfleet was founded to seek out new life – well, there it sits! ...waiting." : - Picard, in his summation "That action injured you, but saved me; I will not forget it." "You are a wise man, my friend." "Not yet, sir. But with your help, I am learning." : - Data, to Riker on his reluctant acceptance of Maddox's advocacy role Background Information * One of the inspirations for this episode surely is Isaac Asimov's novella "The Bicentennial Man". In it, a self-conscious android with positronic brain has to face a trial too to determine whether he can be considered an individual or a disposable machine. * This episode references Data's intimate relations with Natasha Yar, seen in , and shows that Data keeps a picture of Yar. Although some fans have speculated that the pair may have also had a romantic relationship, there is no other canon evidence to corroborate this theory. * After his trial, Data showed Commander Bruce Maddox that he nonetheless remained open to future collaboration with him. He would indeed collaborate with Maddox by recording a log of a day in his life in . * Rick Berman claims this is his favorite episode. * The court room set is a redress of the battle bridge set. The set features a map of the galaxy previously seen in and a chart which shows the current location of 24 starships. * The implied romantic interlude between Captain Picard and Captain Louvois is reminiscent of the romantic interlude between Captain Kirk and Areel Shaw in . * The episode features the rare "interim" pattern Starfleet Admiral uniform which was only seen twice in the second season of TNG. The uniform departed from the first season "pip triangle" admiral insignia and introduced the "boxed pip" version which would be the standard Admiral insignia for the rest of Next Generation and all subsequent series. The second season pip insignia was worn vertical while later seasons showed the insignia flat against the collar. Video and DVD releases * Original UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 18, catalogue number VHR 2471, . *As part of the UK VHS collection Star Trek: The Next Generation - Data Box: . *As part of the US VHS collection Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Data Collection: . * UK re-release (three-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment): Volume 2.3, . * As part of the TNG Season 2 DVD collection. Links and References Special Appearance By *Diana Muldaur as Doctor Pulaski Guest Stars *Amanda McBroom as Phillipa Louvois *Clyde Kusatsu as Nakamura *Brian Brophy as Bruce Maddox Special Guest Star *Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan Co-Star *Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien Uncredited Co-Stars *Denise Crosby as Natasha Yar (archive footage) References 2355; Acts of Cumberland; android; court martial; cybernetics; Daystrom Institute; ''Dream of the Fire, The''; emergency manual control; Irish coffee; Judge Advocate General; K'Ratak; kilo-bars; Legion of Honor; Lore; Medal of Honor; megastrength; neural net; parsteel; Pinocchio; poker; positronic brain; Romulan; Romulan Neutral Zone; Sector 23; sentience; Shakespeare's sonnets; slavery; Soong, Noonien; Starbase 173; Star Cross; Starfleet Academy; ''Stargazer'', USS; Yar, Tasha; Ten Forward; Webster's 24th Century Dictionary Other references Aldebaran; Alfa 177; Alpha Carinae; Alpha Centauri; Alpha Majoris; Altair VI; Andor; Ariannus; Arret; Babel; Benecia; Berengaria VII; Beta Aurigae; Beta Geminorum; Beta Lyrae; Beta Niobe; Beta Portolan; Camus II; Canopus III; Capella; Daran V; Delta Vega; Deneb; Ekos; Eminiar; Fabrina; First Federation; Gamma Canaris N; Gamma Trianguli; Holberg 917G; Ingraham B; Janus VI; Kling; Kzin; Lactra VII; Makus III; Marcus XII; Marnak IV; Memory Alpha; Mudd; Omega IV; Omega Cygni; Organia; Orion; Pallas 14; Phylos; Pollux IV; Psi 2000; Pyris VII; Regulus; Remus; Rigel; Romulan Neutral Zone; Romulus; Sarpeid; Sirius; Sol; Talos; Tau Ceti; Theta III; Tholian Assembly; Vulcan; Zeon |next= }} Measure of a Man, The cs:The Measure Of A Man de:Wem gehört Data? es:The Measure of a Man fr:The Measure of a Man nl:The Measure of a Man